Reality Versus Reality
by ToTheJourney2014
Summary: In the world of TWD...U try to survive. U get bit. U die. U turn. U become a walker. U bite others, or someone kills u permanently. That's what the world has become. It's a fact of life...or is it? Amy Rogers & the others who have died find themselves in a completely different reality from the one they had become accustomed to & have to make the choice of which reality is true.
1. Chapter 1

Amy blinked as she opened her eyes and looked around her in shock. Something wasn't right. She had no idea where she was. She couldn't hear any sounds. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to remember what had been happening before she had fallen asleep in the strange bed she had woken up in. A few minutes later, her eyes flew back open and she let out a shrill scream. She looked around wildly, wondering where all the walkers had disappeared to, trying to figure out where her sister and their friends were. "ANDREA! RICK! SHANE! CARL! LORI!" she shouted. "HELP ME! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?"

The door of the room flew open and two men in white uniforms hurried over to hold Amy down as she thrashed on the bed. A woman in a nurse's uniform followed them in, holding a syringe with a measured dose of sedative in it. "Calm down, Ms. Rogers! You're going to hurt yourself!" She sighed and shook her head, deftly sliding the needle into the inside of Amy's right elbow as one of the men held her arm straight for her. She pushed the plunger to deliver the sedative. "Shh... You'll feel better in a few moments, honey. Dr. Barringer is on his way here to talk to you."

Amy struggled for several more seconds before the drug the woman had injected into her arm began to take effect. As she stopped struggling, the two men slowly began to loosen their hold on her before letting her go all together. "Where the hell am I, and what have you done with my sister?" she demanded, glaring at the woman but too relaxed to be able to lunge at her the way she wanted to.

The woman sighed and sat down on the edge of the foot of the bed. "My name is Danielle Jenkins. I'm the head nurse here at Pine Valley Rehabilitation Center. You've been a patient here for several weeks, Ms. Rogers, and so has your sister. Dr. Barringer will explain everything more thoroughly when he gets here. I promise."

"I want to see my sister. NOW." Amy insisted. She moved toward the edge of the bed, intent on getting up and leaving the room, but the muscles in her body refused to cooperate with her. "What did you give me?" she asked, sighing in defeat as she fell back against the pillows on the bed.

"It's a mild sedative to help you relax. You were far too agitated," Nurse Jenkins explained. She pulled the covers back up over Amy and straightened them out, gently tucking them back in around the young woman. "You've been in a coma for the last several weeks. I'm sure it's going to take a while to adjust to life again. We'll here to help you. Everything's going to be okay."

Amy stared at Nurse Jenkins, not knowing whether to trust her or not. She looked up at the ceiling, amazed to see the electricity working. "How do you guys have power? Where are we exactly?"

"All very good questions," Dr. Barringer commented as he stepped into the room. He smiled down at Amy as he came to a stop next to the bed, holding out his hand for her to shake. "Good afternoon, Ms. Rogers. My name is Dr. Daniel Barringer. I promise to answer all of your questions."

Amy sighed. "I just want to see my sister. I want to know where we are and what you're doing to us. Where are all the walkers? How do you guys have electricity? What the hell is going on?"

Dr. Barringer looked deep into Amy's eyes. "It's going to take a while to explain, Ms. Rogers, and probably even longer for you to believe." He glanced at Nurse Jenkins before looking back at Amy. "The reality you think you've been living in has all been a dream. None of it has been real. There's no such thing as walkers."

* * *

><p>Tears flowed down Andrea Rogers's dirty cheeks as she held the body of her baby sister, Amy, close after putting a bullet through her brain. She sobbed against her sister's hair. "I'm sorry," she whispered hoarsely. "I'm so sorry!" She cried out in anguish, blaming herself for her sister getting bit by a walker. She knew she should have been watching her more closely.<p>

Carol Peletier and Lori Grimes stood a few feet away, debating when to move forward to help their friend. Both of them were crying silently, grieving over the loss of Amy and the others after their mountaintop camp had been overrun by walkers. They looked each other and slowly began to make their way forward. "Andrea?" Lori asked softly. "You need to let her go, sweetie. We'll help you."

Carol nodded her agreement, kneeling down beside Andrea and putting her hands on the other woman's shoulders. "Come on, Andrea. It's time to let her rest."

Andrea shook her head, brushing off Carol's hands and jerking away from her touch. "No! Leave us alone!" she yelled. She looked around the camp, glaring at the others and daring anyone else to come near them. "I can do this myself!" She shoved Carol back and gently laid Amy's body back down on the ground before grabbing the shovel out of Daryl Dixon's hands.

Daryl started to go after Andrea but stopped at one look from Dale Horvath and leaned back against the RV instead, watching as Dale went after Andrea as she headed toward the lake in the nearby quarry. He shook his head, knowing they were wasting time. Amy was dead. There was nothing any of them could do about it, and they needed to move on before they all ended up dead. The mountaintop was no longer safe.

Andrea stumbled down to the lake, choosing a spot several feet from the water's edge and beginning to dig. She was determined to bury her sister in a spot where they had been happy. She ignored Dale as the older man approached, brushing some stray strands of hair away from her sweating face before continuing to dig.

"Let me help you, Andrea. You can't do this all by yourself," Dale commented as he approached. "We can bury her together and then all of us can find somewhere safe."

Andrea turned to glare at the older man. "Leave me alone, Dale. I'm doing this by myself." She refused to allow him anywhere near the hole as she worked to turn it into a grave for her sister. Once she was finished, she went back to Amy's body and scooped her into her arms. She carried her to the grave and laid her gently in the hole, kissing the top of her forehead. "I'm so sorry, but at least you'll be happy here. I love you, Amy." She straightened up quickly, piling the dirt back on top of her sister's body before turning away to re-join the others.


	2. Chapter 2

Amy stared in disbelief at Dr. Barringer. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Have you been holed up in this place since the outbreak? Do you not know what's going on outside?" She shuddered as she thought of everything her and Andrea had been through from the moment the whole world had turned upside down. She and her sister had been on a cross-country trip and were heading home when the catastrophe happened, causing them to become stranded in Atlanta.

The two sisters had banded together and fought the best they could to survive, feeling grateful to the nice man with the RV who had taken them in and treated them like daughters. Neither of them tried to think about their parents or the fact that they would never see them again. They did their best to keep their focus on surviving and watching out for the other. Knowing they were all they had left in the world, they swore to each other to never leave the other behind. It was a promise neither of them had any intention of breaking and one that was currently causing Amy to not even consider listening to anything the man in front of her had to say to her.

Dr. Barringer sighed. "Everything that you think happened is all in your head, Ms. Rogers. There was no outbreak, at least not the one you think happened." He took a deep breath. "Let me take you on a tour of our facility, and then I'll explain what really happened. After that, I have a few people who are going to want to see you. Nurse Jenkins is giving them a call right now, so they'll be here by the time we're finished talking."

Biting her lower lip, Amy slowly nodded and stood up to follow Dr. Barringer as he showed her around the facility. As they toured through the multi-purpose room where patients and workers alike seemed to gather together to play games and other activities. From there, they moved into the kitchen and dining area and then into an outdoor garden. She nodded as she looked around, lifting her face toward the sunlight. "You have a very nice facility." She motioned toward the stone walls of the garden. "I can see how you keep the walkers out, but I still don't understand how you have electricity."

Dr. Barringer sighed and repeated his earlier statement. "There is no such thing as walkers, Ms. Rogers. There are no dead out there trying to harm any of us." He led her to the far side of the garden where some white iron-work benches were gathered together. There were three people there waiting for them.

Nurse Jenkins smiled as Dr. Barringer and Amy approached the area and rose to her feet while the other two people remained sitting with their backs to the doctor and Amy. "They are so excited to see you, Ms. Rogers. They've been waiting for this day for weeks now, ever since you and your sister first got sick."

Amy looked confused as her gaze shifted from Dr. Barringer to Nurse Jenkins and then to the two people she could only see the backs of. "I don't understand. What's going on here?"

Dr. Barringer sighed. "I had been hoping it would take them a little longer to get here. I wanted time to be able to explain things to you, Ms. Rogers." He nodded to Nurse Jenkins, silently telling her to keep the other two people occupied, and led Amy over to another section of the garden, sitting her down on another bench. "I know you think there was an outbreak that caused people to die and then come back to what passes as enough of a life to attack others, but that isn't what happened." He looked into her eyes as he spoke. "There was an outbreak that happened a few weeks ago, but it attacked people's minds. It didn't kill or change anyone, except to cause them to slip into some kind of a shared coma."

Amy's eyes widen. "Shared coma? That makes no sense. What are you talking about?" She shakes her head. "I don't believe you."

"I know," Dr. Barringer acknowledged. "And I wish I had more of an explanation. I'm hoping that comes as more of the inflicted wake up, like you did earlier. We don't have the ability to see whatever it is those in a coma are seeing while they dream, but we do have the ability to be able to tell from their brainwaves that they are all in some kind of identical reality. Whatever it is that they are experiencing, it is happening to all of them, and they all believe it to be true. None of them know they are in a coma until they wake up here or at one of the other facilities like this that have been created around the world."

"You're trying to tell me there was never a killer outbreak... that the world is still as normal as it was before the walkers... that there's power everywhere and transportation and food and all of that?" Amy shook her head. "I know it looks that way from here, but how do I know I'm not dreaming now?" She closed her eyes and pinched herself on the upper arm, just the way Andrea had always taught her to do to test to see if she was dreaming or not whenever something seemed to be too good to be true. "Ow!" She grimaced and rubbed the spot on her upper arm that was already red from the hard pinch she had given herself.

Dr. Barringer couldn't help but chuckle. "There's an easier way to test yourself to see if you're dreaming or not," he commented. "Especially in this situation."

Amy cocked her head to one side, studying him as she tried to process everything he had told her. "Yeah? And what would that be?"

Dr. Barringer sighed before taking a deep breath. He motioned back the way they had come, back to the area where Nurse Jenkins was talking to the couple sitting on one of the grouped up benches. "Having a talk with your parents," he informed her.


	3. Chapter 3

Andrea stared in disbelief at Dale, the older man who had become so much like a father figure to her and Amy during the first few weeks after the outbreak. "Get out of here, Dale. Go! While you still can!" She couldn't understand why he wouldn't just leave her alone. She and Jacqui had decided to remain behind with Dr. Jennings while the Center for Disease Control self-destructed. She laughed to herself at the irony. The one place that was supposed to offer them any hope was the one place that would reunite her with her sister.

Dale shook his head. "You don't honestly believe, after everything we've been through together, that I can just walk away from here without you?" he questioned. "Don't you know how much you mean to me? I miss her, too, Andrea, but that doesn't mean that we give up! We have to keep fighting! We have to survive." He sighed and took a deep breath. "You know it's what Amy would have wanted. She wouldn't want to see you like this!"

Andrea growled, barely managing to keep herself from attacking Dale. "You have NO right," she whispered, breathing heavy as she listened to him. After realizing he wouldn't leave without her, she grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled him to his feet, resigned to the fact that she wouldn't be joining her sister right then. He had successfully prevented her from doing the one thing she wanted to do the most. She was tired of all the fighting, of the struggle to just survive another hour of each day. She was tired of watching people she knew, and especially people she loved die. Most of all, she was just tired. She had wanted to be able to choose the way she left the world, and Dale had taken that choice from her. At that moment, she hated him for robbing her of her rightful choice.

Amy stared across the garden at the backs of the two people Nurse Jenkins was talking with for several moments before swallowing hard and glaring at Dr. Barringer. "That's NOT funny," she managed to say, her voice choked with emotion. "My parents are all the way out in California. Andrea and I have been worried sick about whether their okay or not, but we know we have absolutely no way of finding out whether they've survived so far or not with communications and everything being down. You're cruel!"

Dr. Barringer sighed, pulling out his cell phone and dialing a number. He ignored the wide-eyed look on Ms. Rogers's face as the other person answered the phone. "We're going to have to try something different, Nurse Jenkins," he spoke into the phone. "Apologize to Mr. and Mrs. Rogers for me, but their daughter isn't ready to see them yet. She absolutely refuses to believe they're really here. Ask them to go back to their hotel and give us another day or two."

Amy watched as the nurse spoke leaned toward the other two people who were with her across the garden. A few moments later the woman jumped up and hurried toward them, despite Nurse Jenkins's and her husband's efforts to stop her. Amy looked terrified as the woman came closer and the features of her face came into clearer focus. "Impossible..." she whispered to herself. She stood up and started backing away, looking around for a way to escape. "This isn't real!" she exclaimed.

"Amy, please!" the woman spoke in a pleading tone, reaching out toward her. "We've been waiting so long for you and Andrea to wake up. We were starting to give up, but now suddenly your awake! Please! Don't shut us out!"

Dr. Barringer stood up and got in between the two women, putting his hands gently on the older one's shoulders. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Rogers. We never should have asked you and your husband to come today. I thought the shock of seeing both of you would help snap her back to reality, but it seems to be too much right now. She needs time to figure out that she's not dreaming. She needs time to heal."

"Come on, Alison," Mr. Rogers said as he caught up. He gave his daughter a look of utter sadness before wrapping his arms around his wife and turning her around. He glanced back over his shoulder as he began to lead his wife away. "You have forty-eight hours, Dr. Barringer. If you can't bring our daughter back to us, we'll have to try to find another way. We can't have her this close and still so unreachable."

Amy was in shock. She stared straight ahead, almost not even blinking, as Dr. Barringer and Nurse Jenkins led her slowly back inside. She wanted to cry but found she apparently didn't have the tears left to be able to. She felt empty inside. More than any other time in her life, she felt completely alone. She didn't know what to do.

The three of them were almost back to Amy's room, passing one of the rooms Dr. Barringer had told her were family rooms, when Amy heard sobbing. Curious, she pulled away from the doctor and nurse and headed toward the sound. More than one person was crying, but it sounded like happy tears to hear instead of sad ones. She could see a woman and two young boys surrounding someone. All of them were clinging to each other and sobbing their hearts out. It reminded her of when Carl and Lori had been reunited with Rick. She put her hand to her mouth, not sure if she should be witnessing what was obviously a special reunion.

Dr. Barringer smiled his encouragement, reaching over and squeezing Amy's arm before nodding and encouraging her to move further into the room. He recognized the woman and children, knowing exactly what had happened. He knew Amy needed to see for herself and was hoping this would help with her own recovery. He glanced at Nurse Jenkins, moving back to her side to whisper, "Were you aware Mr. Dawson had come out of his coma?"

Nurse Jenkins shook her head, whispering back, "No. My focus has been on Ms. Rogers since she woke up. The only time I haven't been with her was when you had me contact her parents and meet with them." She smiled, getting a little teary-eyed at the reunion they were witnessing. "This is incredible, Dr. Barringer. Maybe this means they'll all be waking soon."

Amy slowly moved forward, clearing her throat a little to let the family know she was there. She didn't want to startle them, but she was really curious. There was something that felt very familiar about them. She slowly moved her way toward them as the four of them separated. Once the man the woman and boys had been surrounding came into view, Amy's hands flew to her mouth and she screamed in shock. She forgot all about not frightening the family and rushed forward, throwing herself into his arms. "Jim! How did you find me? Where did you come from?!"


	4. Chapter 4

Jim Dawson almost fell over as the young woman hurtled herself at him. He hadn't had a chance to see her face, his focus having been entirely on his family, but he had no trouble recognizing her voice. He began to cling to her just as tight as she was holding him. "Amy! You're alive! You're okay!" He fell back onto his ass and pulled the young woman onto his lap, grinning up at his family. "You can meet my wife and sons! Shelly... John... Michael, this is Amy." He couldn't stop grinning as he looked at each of them and continued to ramble. "I knew I hadn't lost my family. I knew they were alive! That dream I had... the one that had me digging all those graves..." He shook his head. "I know everyone thought I was crazy, but it had to be done. I knew it had to be done. I knew we would be losing people tonight, but I knew they'd be going to some other place..." He hugged Amy tighter. "This is that other place! This is reality! We're alive, Amy! We're really alive, and so is our families!"

Amy stiffened up in Jim's arms and attempted to pull herself free, shaking her head. "Jim... you're not making any sense," she said, protesting. "We need to figure out where we are, where the others are. We need to find them and make sure they're safe." Her eyes were wide and frightened. "We can't stay here." She lowered her voice and leaned close to his ear to whisper in it. "We have to find a way to escape and get back to the mountain. Amy and the others are looking for us. I know they are."

"No!" Shelly protested. She stared in disbelief from the pair on the floor to the doctor and nurse hovering in the doorway. "You can't leave, Jim. Not when we just got you back! You're finally awake, and we want to take you home. Please... You can't let this girl take you away from us again!" She looked over at Dr. Barringer and narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "You promised me when we brought him here that you would make him normal again. You swore he'd wake up and remember everything, and we'd be able to take him home!"

Dr. Barringer sighed and stepped forward. "I'm confident in Mr. Dawson's recovery," he said, his voice insistent. "Look at how easily he's accepted the fact that you and your sons are here." He sighed again, glancing over at Amy and Jim. "Ms. Rogers is having a more difficult time. She doesn't believe that we're safe here. She believes that the things the people in the comas calls 'Walkers' are real. She is still struggling to deal with the fact that the world she thought she had lost is actually okay."

Jim tightened his hold on Amy as he looked up at his wife. "There's no mountain to go to, Amy," he informed her in a soft voice. That whole thing was a dream, some kind of strange and shared dream. But we're awake now. Andrea, Rick, Shane, Lori, and all the others. They're still asleep... in comas. They think we're dead." He held on tighter as Amy shook her head and started to struggle in his arms. He looked up at Dr. Barringer. "Has she seen them yet?"

Dr. Barringer shook his head. "We tried reuniting her with her parents first, but she wouldn't believe they were really here. She thinks we're trying to trick her for some reason."

Shelly sighed as she realized what her husband planned to do. She took a deep breath and nodded her head. "Go," she stated, nodding her head. "The boys and I will wait here for you." She leaned around Amy and gave her husband a soft kiss on the lips as tears streamed from her eyes and down her cheeks. "We'll stay here and wait until you're finished, and then we'll take you home. Help your friend."

Jim nodded and pushed Amy to stand up so he could, too. He gave her an encouraging smile and took her by the hand, glancing toward Dr. Barringer and Nurse Jenkins. "Let's go visit Andrea," he stated.

Amy's eyes widened slightly before she nodded enthusiastically, squeezing Jim's hand. She looked out the window, still unable to get used to seeing an active city in front of her. "How long will it take us to get to the mountaintop? It's about seven miles outside the city, right?" She sighed. "If they've managed to get cell phones working, at least in this area, I'm assuming they have a car we can use." She turned back around and looked at Dr. Barringer. "Right?"

Dr. Barringer sighed. "You're right, Ms. Rogers. We have working cell phones, cars, electricity, and water. Everything that was working before you think the apocalypse happened is still working, /because/ the apocalypse /never/ happened." He took a deep breath. "You and Mr. Dawson have only recently woken up from being in a coma. More than half of the world's population was struck down all at once, and we're still trying to figure out how and why it happened."

"You won't be needing a car," Nurse Jenkins added. She motioned down one of the other hallways with her hand. "Your sister, Andrea Rogers, is in her room. She's still in the same coma she has been in for the past several weeks." She gave the young woman an encouraging smile. "We've been waiting for weeks, trying different approaches, anything and everything we could think of to treat those of you in a coma in the hopes of bringing all of you back to us."

"With you, Mr. Dawson, Mr. Peltier, and others in some of the other facilities we have waking up," Dr. Barringer began explaining, "we're more confident than ever that the comas are only temporary. We're still not sure what caused them to begin with or why some of you are waking up when others aren't, but I have to believe we'll find the cause and treatment soon." He looked deep into Amy's eyes. "The three of you have given us hope."

"Mr. Peltier?" Amy repeated, looking confused for a few seconds before looking around. "Do you mean Ed? That asshole is here? Where is he?"

Dr. Barringer sighed. "He woke up just a few minutes before you did, Ms. Rogers. That's why it took me a little while to get to your room. As soon as he woke up and saw that his wife and daughter were still in a coma, he took off. We were unable to stop him and don't know where he is now." He nodded toward Jim and motioned for him to lead Amy down the hall. "Right now, let's go see your sister. Then, I promise, we will talk all you want. I"ll do my best to answer all of your questions the best that I can."

Amy was trembling as she held tight to Jim's arm. She no longer knew what to believe. Everything inside of her was telling her that this was some kind of a dream... that she would wake up and find herself laying on the bed she shared with Andrea in the back of Dale's RV. Unfortunately, there was another voice that was getting louder. It was screaming at her that no dream could possibly seem this real... that the things they were telling her had to be the truth. She swallowed hard as Dr. Barringer and Nurse Jenkins came to a stop outside of a closed door. She wasn't sure if she wanted to see what lay on the other side. She glanced up at Jim, her eyes full of fear.

"It's okay, Amy," Jim spoke in a reassuring voice. "I'm right here with you, and I'm not going to leave until I know you're okay."

Dr. Barringer opened the door and stepped back, pulling Nurse Jenkins with him and giving the other two plenty of room. "We'll stay out here, just in case you need us, but you can go in on your own, Ms. Rogers."

Amy nodded, taking another deep breath and walking forward on legs that felt as if they were made out of rubber. She started shaking her head as she and Jim stepped into the room. "Noooo..." she murmured, not wanting to believe what she was seeing. She let go of Jim's arm and rushed forward to the bed where her older sister was laying with a peaceful look on her face as if she was sleeping. "ANDREA! WAKE UP!" she screamed, reaching out and shaking her sister.


	5. Chapter 5

Amy laid herself across Andrea's chest, sobbing. "Please, Andrea," she managed to whisper around her choked sobs. "Wake up. I need you!" Her own body shook hard with the force of her sobs. She felt hands on her shoulders and tried to jerk herself away from them. "No! Leave me alone!"

Jim ignored Amy's shouts, pulling the young woman off of her sister and into his arms. He held her close and rubbed her back, doing his best to soothe her. "You've got to believe that she'll wake up one day soon, Amy, just like you did. I know she can do it. They all can. We just have to believe and give them the time they need to come back to us."

Amy nodded against Jim's shoulder, trembling as she worked to get herself under control. She reminded herself that she was stronger than she had ever thought she was capable of being. She had faced down Walkers and killed them. She had survived through horrors she had never thought imaginable. She took a deep breath, giving Jim one more tight squeeze, before pulling back and straightening her shoulders. She looked into his eyes. "What do we do?"

"First, we go find something to eat," Jim began to explain. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving. I feel like I haven't eaten in weeks. I'd like for you and your parents to come to dinner with me and my family."

Amy groaned. "My parents." She closed her eyes. "They must think I hate them. I said they weren't real. I called them a delusion." She looked back over her shoulder at Andrea. "I don't know if I can leave her."

Jim sighed and held Amy a little closer, rubbing her back. "It's gonna be okay, Amy. Andrea's still sleeping. She'll be okay here with the doctors." He slipped his arm through hers and led her back toward the door. He looked at Nurse Jenkins. "Could you call her parents and ask them to meet us at our house for dinner? I'm thinking it might be good for her to see them with my family there to help her accept things."

Nurse Jenkins nodded at a look from Dr. Barringer. "I'll go call them to see if they'll meet you, but you should discuss things with your wife and sons, Mr. Dawson. I know they've really been looking forward to getting you home. They may not want to share you yet." She gave both Amy and Jim and encouraging smile before going down the hall to make the phone call to Amy's parents.

Dr. Barringer took Amy and Jim back to the family room they had been in before, where Mrs. Dawson and the two boys were waiting. He nodded respectfully toward Mrs. Dawson and the boys before moving back to the door. "I'll be just down the hall in my office if you need anything," he spoke quietly before leaving the five of them alone.

Mrs. Dawson's eyes were curious as she reached out for Jim. She glanced from him to Amy and back again. "What's going on, Jim? Are you ready to go home?" She smiled down at their boys as the two of them moved between them, laying her hands on top of their heads. "We're ready to go home, Jim."

Jim nodded. "I'm ready to go, too, baby, but I need one more favor from you." He cupped her face between the palms of her hands. "I want Amy and her parents to come to dinner at our house so I can help ease the transition for her. Please." He kissed her gently as she nodded her acceptance before turning back to Amy. "Let's go, Amy. We're both going home."

-C-

Andrea's eyes widened as she watched the horde of walkers stumbling past the RV from the safety of being inside of it. She fumbled with the pieces of her gun that were strewn on the table in front of her. She had been cleaning her gun and testing herself to see if she could put it back together. Now, she had nothing to protect herself with. She couldn't see any of the others when she looked out the other windows. She hurried to her feet as soon as she realized one of the walkers was coming inside the RV, looking around frantically for somewhere to hide.

Dale stared in disbelief as he watched one of the walkers break from the pack and push its way inside the RV. He hadn't heard a sound out of Andrea and couldn't figure out what might have attracted it. He crept around the top of the RV as silently as possible, trying to decide the best thing he could do to help his friend out.

Andrea managed to shut herself into the tiny bathroom of the RV, but the walker started trying to get in before she was able to catch her breath. She fought against the walker with the door, doing her best to keep it out while looking around for some kind of weapon she could use to kill it. She looked up at the skylight over her head and saw Dale staring down at her with fearful eyes.

Dale's eyes widened in horror as he saw the walker trying to break in on Andrea. He looked around frantically for something he could do to help her. Unable to find anything else, he eased the skylight open and handed the umbrella that had been attached to the back of his lawn chair down to her.

Andrea took the umbrella and rammed it into the walker's chest with a growl of anger, using her weight to propel the two of them into the small hallway of the RV. Things out of the cabinets and off the top of the counters showered down around them, and a screwdriver caught her eye. She grabbed it, using both hands to raise it over her head and plunge it down into the face of the walker over and over again. Finally, she fell back against one of the lower cabinets to catch her breath.

Dale rushed down the ladder attached to the back of the RV as soon as the horde had passed by and hurried around the side. The door opened as he was approaching, and Andrea stumbled out. He caught her up in his arms. "Are you okay?" he asked, shaking with the fear of losing someone else he cared about. He breathed easier as she nodded, even when she pulled away from him. He knew she was still mad at him and would continue to blame him for a long time yet to come.


	6. Chapter 6

Sophia Peletier ran through the trees. She knew Rick had told her to stay where he had left her, but she had kept hearing all kinds of scary noises and kept imagining walkers coming closer and closer to her. She couldn't bear the thought of them finding her hiding spot and being trapped by them. Or worse, she didn't want to think about one of them biting her. She shook with fear at the very idea of what it would feel like if one of them ever sank its teeth into her skin. She clutched her doll tighter and hurried through the trees as fast as she could run, stopping only when she had to so she could catch her breath.

It had been hours. Sophia had come out of the trees onto a road and followed it even though she had no idea where she was or where she was going. She just felt like she had to keep moving, and she hoped more than anything the road would lead her back to everyone else. She stopped at the corner of a house in some kind of housing development. It had been a long time since she had heard or seen any sign of a walker, and she was starving. She had to find something to eat somewhere.

Sophia managed to climb into a house through a window and crept quietly through it. There was a throw blanket on the couch in the living room, along with some throw pillows. In the kitchen she found a can opener several cans of food, and a few bottles of warm water. She carried all of it to the first closet she found and made herself as comfortable as she could. As she ate, she stayed as silent as possible. There were noises coming from the garage that were terrifying her. She knew she wouldn't be able to stay in the closet very much longer, but she knew she needed strength to be able to keep going. Before she realized it, she had drifted off into a deep sleep on the floor of the closet.

When Sophia woke up hours later, she crawled out of the closet and climbed back out of the house through the same window she had climbed in. She hurried away from the house as quickly as she could, falling several times as she moved back into the trees. She felt safer under the cover of their branches than she did out in the open. Tears ran down her filthy cheeks as she tripped over tree roots and scraped her hands and knees. "Momma!" she called out frantically. "Rick! Shane! Daryl! Help me!"

Sophia dropped down to her knees as she came up on a river. She started scooping water into her mouth with her hands, not noticing as her doll got caught up in the current and dragged away from her. When she had slacked her thirst, she reached for her doll and cried out when she couldn't find it. She spotted it in the current and splashed into the river after it. She didn't notice the two walkers who came out of the trees, attracted by the noises she was making.

The two walkers came at Sophia from more than one direction, quickly surrounding her and cutting off any chance of escape she had. They grabbed her and sank their teeth into her skin. The first one tore a chunk out of her leg, and the other took a chunk out of the top of her shoulder where it met her neck.

Sophia screamed in pain, tears sliding down her cheeks. She kicked and fought as hard as she could, managing to get the two walkers to drop her into the water. She forgot all about her doll, not noticing as it was caught by a fallen tree as she hurried away as fast as she could. She cried harder than she ever had before as fire seemed to race through her body. Before long, she had to stop as she found herself on the edge of a pond of some kind. She collapsed, groaning in agony and curling into a tight ball as fever raged through her body and her systems slowly shut down.

~C~

Sophia slowly opened her eyes, blinking quickly in response to the bright light that was flooding into the room. She gasped in shock, looking around in confusion. She was laying on a comfortable bed that was covered with white sheets and a thick white blanket. She smiled a little and snuggled down deeper into the bed, peering over the top of the blanket at the room she found herself in. The walls were white, along with the floor and ceiling. Paintings of ocean life were in frames on each wall. The double windows looked out onto a lush green lawn. "Where am I?" she asked herself quietly.

Sophia winced when she felt a pulling sensation in her left arm. She looked down and gasped again when she saw a needle in the inner part of her elbow. She bit her lower lip as she slowly pulled it out, leaving it on top of the bed as she pushed herself out of it. She looked down at herself to find that she was wearing a comfortable pair of pajamas that were decorated with fluffy sheep. "What's going on?" she questioned. She moved over to the door of the room and slowly opened it, peering out into the hallway outside.

"Ah!" Nurse Jenkins exclaimed when she saw Sophia Peltier's head peering out of the door of her room. "You're awake!" She smiled as she got up and slowly approached the little girl, kneeling on the floor in front of her. "How are you feeling, Miss Sophia?" she questioned softly.

Sophia stared at the woman with abject fear in her eyes. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice shrill. "Where's my Mom?" She backed away from the woman. "I want my Mom!" She turned around and started running down the hallway as fast as she could, sliding along the polished tile with her feet covered in socks. She looked in every open door she could, trying to find her mother, Carol. "Mom!" she called out as loud as she could.

Amy stopped walking toward the front door, frowning as she turned around. "That sounds like Sophia," she said softly. She looked back over her shoulder at Jim. "Doesn't that sound like Sophia?"

Jim nodded. "It does."


End file.
